Milner puts Villa in driving seat
Milner put his side in the driving seat in this Carling Cup semi-final tie by scoring his fifth goal in 11 games.
It was just the boost manager Martin O’Neill was looking for with the second leg to come at home next Wednesday.
Villa have not held silverware since winning the League Cup in 1996 but perhaps this could be their year.
However they made hard work of it with Blackburn striker Ivan Kalinic twice hitting the post in the second half.
Despite the victory, Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill admitted his annoyance after Gabriel Agbonlahor was booked for diving.
Mark Clattenburg ruled he was unfairly seeking a penalty, but O’Neill said: “It looks a penalty to me, the referee would have to make that decision.
“We’ve had an incident before where Ashley Young was upended against Arsenal, he ends up getting booked and misses the next match when he has been put into the air three times, falls almost on his head and the referee decides that’s a dive.
“I’m getting just a bit annoyed about it, because that’s two players here who referees have decided are cheating and I think that’s grossly unfair, I’m not best pleased with it to be honest.
“In the second half we knew Blackburn would come at us and they caused us a few problems, but we had two fantastic chances.
“It was a tough game and it’s still undecided. We’ve got a bit of an advantage.”
Niko Kalinic was unfortunate to twice hit the post for Rovers, whose performance offered encouragement for manager Sam Allardyce.
But he said: “We can’t find the back of the net and that’s a real disappointment, particularly tonight for Niko Kalinic.
“He’s showing more and more of the ability he’s got but it’s so unkind for him that he hasn’t scored tonight.
“We got caught by a sucker-punch on the break, which we’d worked on not letting them do. That’s their strength, with the pace in their team, but we allowed them a very soft goal.
“We gave a spirited performance in the second half. What more can we do? Not a lot, but hopefully next time it will turn in our favour when we get a chance in front of goal.”
Villa dominated the first half as Blackburn were left chasing shadows.
The deadlock was broken following a stunning counter attack that took Blackburn by surprise.
Milner galloped over the halfway line, released Stewart Downing and continued his run unhindered.
Downing then played in a perfect ball and Milner took full advantage for his seventh goal of a fine season and one that he hopes ends with the World Cup in South Africa.
BLACKBURN: Robinson, Jacobsen (Olsson 46), Samba, Nelsen, Chimbonda, Salgado (Reid 71), Emerton, Nzonzi, Pedersen (McCarthy 75), Dunn, Kalinic.
ASTON VILLA: Guzan, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Ashley Young, Milner, Petrov, Downing, Heskey (Sidwell 71), Agbonlahor.
Referee: Mark Clattenburg.
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